An Okaloosa County Deputy Sheriff is the latest officer to be killed in the line of duty in what has become a deadly few weeks for law enforcement nationwide. Deputy Bill Myers, 64, was shot in the back of the head by Joel Dixon Smith, 33, after serving Smith with a domestic violence injunction.

Smith fled the area and barricaded himself in a home 9 miles from the scene of Deputy Myers' murder.

Tactical units responded to the scene and fired tear gas into the home where Smith was barricaded. Smith emerged from the home carrying a weapon and was shot by police. Smith died on scene.

"He was a sick little coward," Okaloosa County Sheriff Larry Ashley said of Smith.

Deputy Myers had been with the Okaloosa Sheriff's Department since 1989.

"We pray for his soul and for his family and we ask that the community pray for them as well, and for all the men and women who have the courage in these troubled times to put their lives on the line for others," Sheriff Ashley said.